An excerpt from the PrimerGen's documentation:
PrimerGen searches strings of amino acid residues in order to reverse-translate
oligonucletide primers of a desired range of lengths and maximum number of
degeneracies.
PrimerGen only works on IBM-PC(TM), XT, AT, PS/2 and compatibles with
EGA or VGA graphics adaptors. It will not work on computers with CGA or
Hercules(TM) graphics cards. This is because the program alters the
screen fonts which cannot be done on the latter types of graphics
adaptors. I have no access to XGA card-driven computers, so I don't
know what happens there! A hard drive is NOT required and PrimerGen will
fit on a 360K 5.25" floppy disk.
You need to input:
- the appropriate amino acid sequence,
- the minimum size of desired primers,
- the maximum size of primers (important for codon preference -
generated primers),
- the maximum acceptable number of mismatches,
- desired codon preference table (if required).
The program will also supply the melting temperature of the primer. You may
input the Na or K cation concentration used in the melting temperature
calculations.
PrimerGen contains a sequence editor, where amino acid residues are entered.
The amino acid sequence must be ONE fragment and cannot be longer than 70
residues. The sequence must be in the ONE LETTER CODE and cannot contain
any UNKNOWNS. After the desired amino acid sequence has been entered have the
option of saving the sequence to a disk. PrimerGen will also accept and
re-edit previously saved sequence files, and also contains a codon preference
table editor.